Ausmelt Ltd has signed contracts with Empresa Metalurgica Vinto to use Ausmelt Technology for a new tin smelter at Oruro in Bolivia. The contracts, worth A$3.6 million, cover provision of Ausmelt Technology and associated engineering services. A further contract for the supply of equipment and site services, worth A$4.3 million, is expected to follow in the current half-year.

Engineering design for the new Ausmelt furnace will begin immediately. The smelter will be designed to process around 38,000 tonnes a year of tin concentrates. The concentrates will be smelted and reduced sequentially in a two-stage process in a single furnace to produce approximately 18,000 tonnes of tin metal a year.

Empresa Metalurgica Vinto is one of the world.s leading tin producers. It plans to expand and modernise its operations in Bolivia using Ausmelt Technology. Mr Abbott said: "We are very pleased to have won our first project in Bolivia. Ausmelt.s technology for tin smelting is already being used at two of the largest tin smelters in the world, in Peru and China. Including the Bolivian plant, about 40% of the world's primary tin output will be produced using Ausmelt Technology. This dominance of the world's tin production is particularly pleasing given that tin processing was the original basis for development of the technology. This is our third contract win in South America. The other projects were the Funsur tin smelter in Peru and a lead smelter for Votorantim in Brazil, which is a current project."

Engineer Francisco Infantes, the General Manager of the Vinto smelter complex, said: "This project is very important for us as this will be the first modernisation after more than 30 years from the start-up of the Vinto complex. This will put us in a position to favorably compete with other international modern tin smelters."

The President of Bolivia, Evo Morales, was present for the signing of the contracts and also expressed his, and his Government's, delight in moving forward to upgrade the Vinto tin smelter with Ausmelt technology.